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The movie is about American men building a harbour on a Caribbean island when they accidentally uncover two dinosaurs that have been frozen in suspended animation for millions of years. They are a Brontosaurus and a Tyrannosaurus rex. That night, during a storm, the beasts are struck by lightning and come back to life. The islanders have no idea that the dinosaurs are alive because of the storm and are now roaming the island. Also awoken is a caveman (Gregg Martell) who befriends Julio, an island boy. and along with the Brontosaurus , which culminate in the death of the Brontosaurus (killed by the Tyrannosaurus). The caveman dies while holding a beam in a collapsing mine, allowing others to escape. Meanwhile, the islanders have found refuge from the Tyrannosaurus by hiding in the old fortress, which is protected by a ring of burning fuel. To ensure the Tyrannosaurus does not get in, the hero Bart (Ward Ramsey) drives out to face the beast in a mechanical digger. The two duel on the edge of an island cliff and, after a tense fight, the Tyrannosaurus is knocked into water, ending the island terror.[2] The film ends with a picture of the apparently dead Tyrannosaurus on the sea bed. In an ending similar to his previous films The Blob and 4D Man, the words "THE END" are shown, followed by a question mark.

During special-effects work on this picture, the crew used their Brontosaurus model and miniature jungle set to film a shot for an episode of TV's The Twilight Zone (1959) called "The Odyssey of Flight 33". A shot of the Tyrannosaurus was borrowed as well for "The Secret of Gilligan's Island", a 3rd-season episode of Gilligan's Island where Gilligan dreams the castaways are all cave dwellers living on the island back in the stone age.

The toy dinosaurs Julio shows everyone at the cantina were Brontosaurus and Tyrannosaurus rex plastic figures made by Marx Toys.

Howard Thompson of The New York Times wrote, "If ever there was a tired, synthetic, plodding sample of movie junk, it's this "epic" about two prehistoric animals hauled from an underwater deep-freeze by some island engineers."[1]